The real concerns with Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins, naturally, has some trust issues. Rarely do you see a player of his caliber traded weeks after being the number 1 pick. He came to Minnesota and immediately had the spotlight on him after kicking off another rebuild.

Speaking of rebuild, I have to wonder how often we use this word on our blog. It is a big reason why I started the blog. But I think, moving forward, I will make it a point to use the word ‘rebuild’ in every blog post. Sort of a personal challenge and a branding experiment.

Anyways, back to your regular scheduled programming, Andrew Wiggins.

So naturally, when Andrew heard his name in trade rumors to go back to Cleveland for Kyrie Irving, he would get frustrated. He is in the midst of locking down a max contract and that could be jeopardized due to a trade. Wiggins’ name also seems to only be mentioned mainly because he is really the last tradeable asset the Wolves have since the Wolves would never consider trading KAT. So I can understand his frustrations.

I want to also mention, I am a huge Andrew Wiggins believer still. While the league is all about 3 and D now, I don’t think you can have too many scorers on a roster. Wiggins has earned respect to average 24 points a game at the age of 22. In his three years so far, he has also improved his 3-point shot a decent amount and has proven he can get to the line at will.

The situation currently for Wiggins seems great as well. He now has Tom Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler to help guide and mentor him to finally tapping into his defensive potential. He has all the tools to be a Jimmy Butler-level defender in the league, and if he does, he is easily a top 25 player. It is his one glaring weakness that everyone is waiting to see if he can improve going into his fourth year. It is clear that, for him to be worth the max contract extension he will get this year, he will need to at least be an average defender. I am not mad at Glen Taylor for expecting that of him.

Wolves owner Glen Taylor tells AP he is ready to give Wiggins max, but 1st wants meeting to hear from AW that he's committed to improving

I also don’t believe in trading Wiggins for Kyrie either. I would much rather have 6 years of Andrew Wiggins than 2 years of Kyrie. Kyrie’s ball dominance also doesn’t work great with Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns. Wiggins’ passive nature bodes well as the 3rd option on offense as it will also draw less double teams his way. The Wolves would benefit greatly from having Wiggins fill a Klay Thompson-like role on both ends of the floor.

Wiggins will have all the opportunity in the world to dominate the ball through 82 games, I am not concerned about that. I also think, Wiggins will become a plus-shooter and eventually, a plus-defender. What is really concerning me is his attitude.

Before I get into his attitude, it is important to note how NBA players have invited us into their personal lives. Social media let’s us know everything that they are doing, that they want to share. What they want to share is really their choice. Their choice does reflect on who they are because ultimately, they are portraying the self that they want us to see, knowing that fans see it. Does that make sense?

Whether the above post by IG was intended to take shots at Glen Taylor or not, it still leaves it up to people to interpret. I am not taking this up as the only issue. There has been a trend of these types of sub-messages through his social media that give the impression that he is dissatisfied with the situation. It is usually best not to tread the waters of leaving things up to fans to create their own messages, as timely as some of these posts have been.

I would be a little less critical with Andrew on these types of things had I seen he was buying into what the Wolves are doing. There wasn’t much from Andrew’s camp around the Jimmy Butler trade. I would’ve expected something from Wiggins, being the face of the franchise that he is. I don’t expect him to be as enthusiastic as KAT is for everything, that isn’t Wiggy, but something at least. Right?

I see more about Wiggins’ expensive cars and dogs than anything related to his team. He is free to do that all he wants. But it leaves me to question his commitment to the team when his non-car/dog posts are about loyalty and respect.

So what I am really concerned about is Wiggins’ attitude for this upcoming season. I don’t think a few social media posts justify to say it is a problem quite yet of course, but it will certainly be something to pay attention to this upcoming season. It will be interesting to see how he interacts with his teammates, new and old, on the course. I hate to instigate but I can’t be the only person with this concern. I am a firm believer in the need for every player on a team to buy into the team concept.